Local control back in hands of 2 school districtsLITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Board of Education has voted to return local control to the Pulaski County Special and Helena-West Helena school districts. Both districts had been under state control for about five years because of financial mismanagement and overspending. The board voted Thursday to lift the fiscal distress classification for both districts and return them to local control, following the election and training of local school board...

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESSThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Officials delay Broadway Bridge closureLITTLE ROCK — Highway officials on Wednesday delayed the closure of the 93-year-old bridge connecting Little Rock and North Little Rock, citing recent high water levels on the Arkansas River and challenges in assembling the steel for the span's replacement. Scott Bennett, the head of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, said officials initially hoped to close the Broadway Bridge by May or June for six months while its $98 millio...

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESSThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Man pleads guilty to stealing funds from feeding effortLITTLE ROCK — A 52-year-old Little Rock man has pleaded guilty to his alleged role in stealing U.S. Department of Agriculture program funds intended to feed children in low-income areas during the school year. Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that Reuben Nims pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud. Nims will be sentenced later. Nims was indicted as part of a scheme to fraudulently obtain funds from a USDA program. He ran a Li...

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESSThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Plane makes emergency landingEL DORADO — Mechanics weren't able to identify a problem with a passenger plane that made an emergency landing at the South Arkansas Regional Airport at Goodwin Field as it headed from Houston to Indianapolis. Pilots landed the United Airlines plane, operated by Indianapolis based Shuttle America Corporation, in El Dorado on Monday night after a flight attendant saw or smelled smoke in the aircraft's galley, airport manager Tim Johnson told th...

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESSThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

12,000 residents to lose food-stamp benefits April 1LITTLE ROCK — The state estimates that at the end of March, roughly 12,000 unemployed Arkansas residents will lose their food-stamp benefits because of the imposition of work requirements on adults in the program. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that the state is sending out 12,000 notices to the first round of people expected to lose food-stamp benefits beginning April 1. The state began enforcements on Jan. 1. Food assistance benefits ...

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESSThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Trial over stacked bodies at funeral home to proceedLITTLE ROCK — A Pulaski County judge said Tuesday that a trial will move forward as scheduled for two Jacksonville funeral home owners and the home's former general manager after investigators found bodies stacked on top of each other and in unrefrigerated areas of the facility. The 13 charges of abuse of a corpse were filed against Arkansas Funeral Care owners LeRoy Wood, his son Rod wood and former general manager and funeral director Edward...

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESSThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Arkansas auditor Lea says she used personal email for state work LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas auditor has admitted to instructing employees to use private email accounts after previously denying the allegation. State auditor Andrea Lea said Wednesday that she made an incorrect statement to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (http://bit.ly/1OV7VUR ) in a previous article in which she denied telling anyone to use private email accounts for state business. Lea's former chief of staff, George Franks, provided text mes...

Ex-coach pleads guilty in altercationELKINS — Former Cedarville High School football coach Kevin Lea has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges resulting from an altercation during and after a football game against Elkins. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that Lea pleaded guilty Tuesday to harassment, failure to disperse, obstructing governmental operations and disorderly conduct. In exchange for his plea prosecutors dropped a charge of inciting a riot and changed a charge of...

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESSThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

John Brown dorm has bedbugsSILOAM SPRINGS — A university residence hall in Siloam Springs has had two rounds of treatment to eliminate bedbugs. John Brown University called a pest-control company in December and January to eliminate the bedbugs in Mayfield Hall, a women’s dormitory with 134 rooms. The university’s vice president for student development, Stephen Beers, says no more than eight rooms were found to have bedbugs and that the university doesn’t have “signific...

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESSThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

University of the Ozarks to eliminate student fees, keep tuition sameCLARKSVILLE — The Board of Trustees at the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville has voted to eliminate some mandatory student fees and to keep the cost of tuition unchanged. The university announced Wednesday that tuition will remain at $30,850 for the school year beginning this fall and that $680 in fees such as technology, activity and media charges will be eliminated. The university says the result is a 1.9 percent decrease in the cost o...

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESSThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

State revenue above forecast, less income tax refunds helpLITTLE ROCK — Arkansas revenue officials say a decline in income tax refunds kept the state’s revenue above expectations and last year’s numbers, despite a drop in tax collections. The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration on Wednesday said the state’s net available revenue in February totaled $279.9 million. That’s $61.6 million above February 2015 and $31.8 million above forecast. The state’s net revenue so far for the fiscal yea...

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESSThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Hutchinson believes Arkansas court races should spur reforms, eliminate "dark money"LITTLE ROCK — Citing the record-breaking amount of spending by outside groups on two state Supreme Court races, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Wednesday he wants lawmakers to look at ending the popular election of justices. The Republican governor said he’d likely support an effort next year to ask voters to approve having justices to the state’s highest court appointed rather than elected following the flurry of outside-funded attack ads a...

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESSThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Touring visual art exhibition opens March 9The 2016 Small Works on Paper visual art exhibition will open Friday at Arkansas Tech University in the Norman Hall Gallery on 203 West Q Street. The show will be on display through March 30. An opening reception, free and open to the public, is set for Wednesday, March 9, at 2:30 p.m. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Now in its 29th year, Small Works on Paper is a juried visual art exhibition th...

State Medicaid changes on the horizonLITTLE ROCK — The governor announced he would call a special session to begin April 6 for the legislature to consider changes to the state Medicaid program. Changes to Medicaid are usually difficult because it is such a large and expensive program. Changes are needed though, because it has been growing as a category in the state’s overall budget. Last fiscal year, the Arkansas Medicaid program spent $5.2 billion. According to a consultant hire...

Kroger to offer anti-overdose drug without a prescriptionCINCINNATI — Ohio-based grocery chain Kroger Co. said Friday it will make the overdose-reversal drug naloxone available without a prescription in its pharmacies across Ohio and northern Kentucky, a region hard-hit by deadly heroin. Kroger said more than 200 of its pharmacies will offer naloxone over the counter within days. “We want families dealing with addiction to know that they can count on having the drug available in the event that they ...

Arkansas AG offering workshops on dating violence LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge is launching a series of workshops around the state aimed at helping educators combat dating abuse. Rutledge on Wednesday announced her office is teaming up with the nonprofit group Break the Cycle to offer the three-hour workshops in late February and in March. Rutledge says the workshops will give teachers the resources they need to comply with a new state law that requires students in ...

Display to honor Black History MonthLITTLE ROCK — Between 1868 and 1893, significant numbers of African Americans served in the chambers of the Arkansas Legislature. Black legislators remained visible and active in both chambers through the 1870s and 1880s but political and social tides turned against them. From 1893, no African American would serve in the Arkansas legislature for eight decades. The year 1973 saw a new day in Arkansas politics: Richard Mays, Dr. William Townsend...

Gas prices fall nationwideAverage retail gasoline prices in Arkansas have fallen 4.4 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $1.52 per gallon yesterday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 1,826 gas outlets in Arkansas. This compares with the national average that has fallen 5.2 cents per gallon in the last week to $1.74 per gallon. Including the change in gas prices in Arkansas during the past week, prices yesterday were 51.4 cents per gallon lower than the s...

Arkansas drops nationally certified teachers' bonus changes LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Department of Education has decided to drop a proposal to end annual payments to teachers with National Board Certification after 10 years. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (http://bit.ly/20m1jpp ) reports that about $13.8 million has been allocated for the quickly growing program in which National board certified teachers receive $5,000 per year. The proposed change would limit payments to a total of 10 years, even if ...

Housing sales, home values on the riseLITTLE ROCK — Pope County Realtors sold 84 new and existing homes in November 2015, an increase of 15 percent over the 73 sold in November 2014, according to a report released by the Arkansas Realtors Association. New and existing home sales totaled 965 through November, an increase of 23.24 percent sold through November 2014 (783). The values of new and existing homes in November 2015 in Pope County totaled $10,442,164, 16.8 percent better th...